choreographed dance

I personally don't like the surprise choreographed dances at weddings, because:

1) It has been done so many times that it's no longer original.

2) It's a wedding, not a Broadway show.

I completely agree with Sunshine. I saw a choreographed first dance at a wedding a short while back and the bride looked so nervous and focused on getting the next step right, that she didn't look "in love" or happy, wasn't smiling etc. You might end up being more nervous than you think, and it's easier to just dance freely, I think. There's no need to put on a show for your family and friends. I personally prefer to see the bride and groom in love, staring in each other's eyes, etc.

@JSARGE, I'm in a wedding two weeks after my own. The bride recently informed me that she wanted the bridal party to perform a choreographed line dance.

My response: ".... Wait, is this a joke?"

Unfortunately, not a joke. I'm just going to get wastey faced beforehand.

I actually am doing a choreographed dance with my FH for our first dance. But....it doesn't switch songs or anything. We just learned a dance style and added in a lift and a dip. We really had a great time learning it and we still go and practice but it was time intensive--we took 20 weeks of lessons and we practice once a week.

Maybe you and your dad could take a few lessons so that it looks "polished" and that gives you a chance to shine?

FH has talked about doing the evolution of dance with his mother, but I don't think that will actually happen.

I will say that I have only been to one wedding where the Bride and Groom did a choreographed dance, and it lasted forever, and they looked SUPER awkward and uncomfortable. It was really really hard to watch.

I asked my FH if he wanted to but he laughed at me. Like... A lot. Now that I think about it, any wedding I've been to who does include a choreographed dance does look super awkward. Except for my one friend who's a backup dancer. She looked amazing. Her husband... Not so much lol

We are not doing anything like that, but I think it can be really fun. It gives your guests a little added entertainment. No, it may not be the most original idea (most weddings aren't original anyway) and no, it's not a broadway show - but who cares? If you are having fun with it I say go for it!

Ugh. FMIL got us a gift certificate to do a choreographed dance... And I don't want to. At least not for the first dance. I agree with the other ladies though, you focus too much on the dance and not looking at your FH. somehow I'll convince them not to do it.

Ugh. I hate choreographed dances at weddings. It's not a performance- if I wanted to watch a performance, I have my dance students to watch. They are better than any half choreographed BS anyway. Especially the bridal party stuff. Just no.

Now, I have known people that aren't good dancers (read my brother) who would only do a first dance if it was choreographed. However, I almost wish they had either skipped it all together or just danced alone for 20-30 seconds then invited everyone on the floor. They were too concentrated on the steps to see the love. First dances are about love, devotion, and sharing a moment with your new spouse. Not about putting on a performance.

I didn't do one but my friend did and it was awesome! I like choreographed dances.

Appreciate the thoughts. this being my first (hopefully only) wedding, anything I do is original to me. no offense intended to those who disagree. I don't care if it's "been done" elsewhere. weddings are usually pretty typical. I've got other things that are not typical so in my opinion it all evens out.

I LOVED having my dance choreographed. Also before we had our grand entrance my DH and I were upstairs in our venue practicing a little bit, so it was nice to have a moment to ourselves before the chaos. You also get some really cool photos since our photographer was able to capture when we spun me around, our cute solo dance moves and the dip at the end. It was really fun and all of my guests loved it

With your dad would be very fun and sweet - as long as you two can actually dance! LOL I'm not trying to sound like a bitch, but if either of you don't have rhythm or the ability to learn choreography it will not be worth the added stress.

@Lori, in Indian weddings, it's a tradition for the family members to choreograph and perform dances for the couple. (But it's all fun, sometimes they are good and sometimes they are just flailing around.) If your friend isn't Indian, though . . . that's a lot to ask.

I am a dancer, and to me the choreographed bride-groom dances are always TERRIBLE because 1) they can't dance 2) it takes what should be a beautiful natural moment and makes it awkward and nerve-wracking for the couple. I think it might be fun to do one later one if you had to, but not as your first dance.

ETA: I think Jeanine's way is the way to go and what we'll do. FH is not a good dancer at all, or even a comfortable dancer, so we might take some group classes in a style so he's more comfortable and then just enjoy it.

I have been debating on it but FH has two left feet and really no time to practice so idk lol

My Dad and I did one. Yes it's been done, but I grew up as a dancer and he's always talked (since I was little) about doing a funny surprise dance for everyone at my wedding. He was so keen on it, which made me not care that it became a 'thing' and is no longer a thing, it actually had meaning to us. We started with a slow song for about 45-60 seconds, and then changed into another song. I had timed this out and the DJ knew when to change songs, and he was able to switch with only a beat between songs.

We had about 15-20 seconds of dance moves planned, free-style for a few choruses, then got others to join us and it transitioned us from the father-daughter dance into the evening.

It worked really well as a way to get people up onto the dance floor, and it was a TON of fun. I think it has to mean something to you though, and not something that you do *just* to do it.

A photo from our 'free style' is one of my favourite wedding photos! The second photo is just to show how it worked getting others to come up and join us. In total, we 'danced' for about 2-minutes between the slow song and the faster song before getting others to join.

Thanks Nick and Hannah!

my dad isn't much of a dancer but it was his idea and it's very "us" to do something so fun. my dad is one of my best friends. we would have a blast doing one, I think. thanks also for telling me how you got the music to change!

Yea, my Dad isn't much of a dancer either, but I think he's really a closet dancer . We came up with the choreography together, and keep it simple. The simpler the better if possible, we choreographed to the lyrics so that the words in the song were reminders of what to do. We also purposely were goofy, if you try to be too perfect it won't be as much fun for you.

My Dad chose the songs and they are totally common-place songs, but he was happy about them which made me happy too. We started with 'My Wish- Rascal Flatts', and transitioned into 'Happy- Pharrell Williams'. He doesn't listen to the radio so he didn't know how overplayed Happy was, but he was soon excited to dance to it, so I never told him. It was also a really easy song to just have fun dancing too.

I hope that this works out well for you!

I plan on doing one with my cousin. He's like a brother to me, and we are the dancers in the family so it was pretty much a no brainer for me. I'm actually splicing together my own music using this program called wavepad.